As of late afternoon yesterday, all the world will forevermore remember the name Leo Oracion as the first Filipino ever to reach the summit of Mt. Everest with the 1st Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition (FPMEE) team. On a different route, another Filipino contender Romi Garduce is also presently on his way to claim the glory for his country as a "Mt. Everest summiteer" albeit not as the first one. My cheers and heartfelt congratulations to Romi Garduce and Leo Oracion, my kababayans--while contenders in this expedition--for proclaiming to all the world that Filipinos have what it takes to conquer the world's highest peak.
I'm not here though to talk of their grand journeys although these are surely gripping and exciting stories; better to hear it from them instead. This is rather about another rivalry occurring behind the scenes, one between GMA and ABS-CBN, two huge Philippine broadcasting corporations sponsoring and covering Garduce and Oracion camps, respectively.
Coverages have been aired in the news by the two TV stations about the progress of both teams especially since the race to the summit began. The success of Oracion over Garduce implied that the ABS-CBN camp won over GMA.
I am for competition; rivalry and survival of the fittest is the way of the world. But this case, it's just too much beyond healthy competition. I mean, hanggang dito ba naman?! This polarization between the two largest broadcasting networks already borders on the childish and immature that sometimes I think they're just concerned about TV ratings and audience shares and rather less about pressing issues in this country. ABS-CBN even put in alot of financial backing into Oracion's expedition to ensure they toppled the contending team, and their rival network to that effect.
From quipping "Kapuso" and "Kapamilya" slogan rivalries to every TV show on their programming: Asianovelas, news and public affairs, cartoons, and reality game shows, all to compete for leading ratings. As long as a gimmick of one station gets a larger chunk of audience mileage, the rival network is bound and dead committed to come up with an equivalent, better, or more celebrated gimmick. I am not ignorant of the revenues involved as result of good TV ratings, especially those from advertisements alone, and gaining the preferential favors of both the general masses and artistas. But there has to be something better than just waiting for the next Korean telenovela that ABS-CBN is pitting against GMA's leading "Jewel in the Palace."
They should grow up. Nakakasawa na.
[Image credits: Kapamilya and Kapuso slogans from Wikipedia]
4 weeks ago
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5 comments:
Is there anyway you can express your sentiments to the media over there -i.e through email ?
Unless someone like you make them aware of their behaviors, they will forever behave like immature kids like you said.
The country needs a strong voice,a contributor and catalyst for positive changes. One voice can make a difference. One step at a time.
Thanks for your comment, Tita.
Yes, there are ways--usually through emails and hotlines. And surely, people other than myself have expressed the same sentiments I have--the least by writing to them personally, advocating against them, or by just sharing their thoughts to others.
Those voices, however, are still just a minority of the general public. And with the way things are here, singular effort moving towards positive reform might just be ignored, rendered moot, or considered negligible.
I'm sure there's still hope for positive changes in media, or the Philippine society in general--as bleak as this dream may seem. I shall carry out my purpose and play my part in all this, of course. And in time, those small individual voices will reach critical mass that will eventually become a stronger (if not louder) constituency that can be heard and bring those changes to life.
Bravo Don!
I hope that with your generation of few but authentic nationalists, including your pinsan and comrade in arms, Gabe, our Inang Bayan will be liberated from the business-as-usual attitude of the majority of our country men.
I am processing intellectually and emotionally my role in the coming years to contribute my own spirit.
I am wrestling with the question -"If transcendent giving is to dissipate the poverty of beings, In what ways? since the poor are always with us, have former Buddhas practiced perfect generosity?"
This is my personal dilemna and eternal question. By the way, I am a Christian Buddhist. If you want to learn about Buddhism in its entirety, not history, but in spirit, try to get hold of the book NO TIME TO LOSE by Pema Chodron. Her book "When Things Fall Apart" helped me survive my trauma with illness as in cancer of the thyroid and other personal traumas. She is the first American woman to be ordained as abbot of a Buddhist monastery in the West. Her monastery however is in Cape Breton, Nove Scotia in Canada, my next retreat destination. Unlike my former church affiliation, this religion accepts women as equal because they believe that we are one in spirit. We are all spirits having a human experience as man or woman whatever your spirit made as sacred contract in a previous life or lives.
Tita Dinah
hahaha.. I've gotten tired of the networks war myself that's why I hardly ever turn the TV on, and if I do, it's usually on Discovery channel or National Geographic. :P
BTW, my officemate's a Tongol pala.. :S but she did say that their clan holds a reunion annually I think though they don't really get to attend.
That, too, is my hope Tita--a genuine reform in our country ushered by its people that transcends even just our generation to include those before and after us. My heart is really for our Philippines, and I am truly glad that Gabe chose to take up arms with me. Thanks also for sharing your experience. I do not know much of the Buddhist way of life and its teachings, probably that book is a good way to know more about it. I'm interested in hearing your story about your quest to find an answer(s) to that perennial question you are wrestling with and of the role you foresee yourself to play in the times ahead. Hopefully in the next time we meet.
Me too, Kate. I'd rather learn from those shows. Although I must admit I used to follow GMA's Mulawin even while I was in Tawi-Tawi, would you believe that? :) Well, if she's a Tongol I might not be sure then. Maybe she's still a distant relative. Thanks for letting me know... I hope it wasn't too much hassle. :) I guess I'll just leave it at that for now.
P.S. Here's a cartoon on the Filipinos finally conquering Mt. Everest. I found it both funny and disturbing.
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